NASCAR teams penalized ahead of the California race
This weekend, NASCAR has unloaded at Auto Club Speedway. The Fontana, California track welcomes the NASCAR Cup Series.
View 2020 Auto Club Speedway inspection violations below.
The California race track is a fast 2-mile oval. Teams run close to wide open and in qualifying, wide open is expected.
Due to the amount of on throttle time, aerodynamics are critical. This is especially true for any track 1.5-mile or larger. Thus, teams tend to push the boundaries in the NASCAR inspection line.
Last week, we saw a whole handful of penalties. The Toyota teams were caught attempting to manipulate the shape of the front nose via bondo.
Related: NASCAR inspection issues at Las Vegas
Today, the NASCAR Cup Series has a single session on the race track. Qualifying is set to take place. Ahead of qualifying, teams must roll through the inspection line.
Additionally, this is an impound race. There’s no inspection ahead of the race on Sunday. This doubles as pre-qualifying and pre-race inspection.
California: NASCAR inspection violations
Kurt Busch: Busch is the first car to fail two times.
The No. 1 team will lose 15 minutes of practice next week. A Chip Ganassi Racing crew member of NASCAR’s choosing has been ejected from the speedway for the rest of the weekend.
“It’s on his second week,” Kurt Busch jokes with Fox Sports of his crew member being ejected.
Busch will need to pass on his third attempt through the line.
Update: Kurt Busch was able to pass inspection on his third time through the NASCAR inspection line.
Martin Truex Jr: Truex Jr has failed twice. The first time was for body tolerances. The second was for suspension measurements.
The No. 19 team has lost 15 minutes of practice next week. Joe Gibbs Racing will also have a crew member of NASCAR’s choosing ejected from the speedway for the rest of the weekend.
Martin Truex Jr will need to pass on the third attempt in order to be allowed to qualify.
Update: Martin Truex Jr has failed on his third attempt through the Auto Club Speedway inspection line. As a result, he will not be allowed on the track for qualifying.
Martin Truex Jr will still need to pass inspection before he’s allowed to race. This NASCAR Cup Series inspection doubles as pre-qualifying and pre-race tech.
Update: Martin Truex Jr has passed inspection on his fourth attempt. He will start at the rear of the field on Sunday.
Other notes: Additionally, Ryan Preece has changed engines ahead of qualifying. It’s not an inspection violation but that team will start at the rear, regardless of where they qualify.
NASCAR inspection is ongoing. This story will be updated if more teams fail inspection.
NASCAR Inspection Penalties: Pre-Qual Inspection
1 NASCAR Inspection failure: No penalty, the team gets to go to the back of the inspection line and try again.
2 NASCAR inspection failure: If a team fails twice, NASCAR will eject a crew member of their choosing. In addition, they lose 15 minutes of practice time.
3 NASCAR inspection failures: If a team failed three times then they lose a crew member. They would not be allowed to qualify. Additionally, the lose another 15 min of practice in addition to the previous 15 minute penalty.
Teams must pass inspection in order to start the race.
More
Auto Club Speedway: TV schedule
NASCAR inspection issues at Las Vegas
